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Honor Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual observance on November 20 that honors transgender people. The observance was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman who was killed in 1998 (GLAAD). The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death, sparking an important tradition that especially resonates in 2020, when COVID-19, police brutality, and discrimination politically has all exacerbated the violence and oppression this community experiences. To this day, Rita Hester’s murder hasn’t been solved. Read more in NBC News.
Happy Friday! Welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. Today we're honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance, and hope you are too. Learn about the historical significance of this date, more information on those murdered and missing, and commit to taking daily action to support the LGBTQ+ community.
Tomorrow is Study Hall, our weekly newsletter where – instead of introducing a new topic – I answer questions and share insights from the community. Reply to this email with any thoughts.
This is the Anti-Racism Daily, a daily newsletter with tangible ways to dismantle racism and white supremacy. Support our work by making a one-time contribution on ourwebsiteorPayPal, or giving monthly onPatreon. You can also Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). To subscribe, go toantiracismdaily.com.
Nicole
TAKE ACTION
If you are employed, learn how your company specifically stands for transgender rights, both within your company itself and in relationship to the broader community.
Share your pronouns everywhere you can to normalize using the right pronouns. This includes your email signature and your Zoom name when joining virtual calls. Learn more >
Do research to support organizations centering trans people in your community, like Black Trans Travel Fund in NY/NJ, Brave Space Alliance in Chicago, and Solutions Not Punishment Co. in Atlanta.
If you identify as cisgender, consider: what privilege(s) does that come with? How does that influence my worldview? What can I actively do with my power and privilege to dismantle the norms?
GET EDUCATED
By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual observance on November 20 that honors transgender people. The observance was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman who was killed in 1998 (GLAAD). The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death, sparking an important tradition that especially resonates in 2020, when COVID-19, police brutality, and discrimination politically has all exacerbated the violence and oppression this community experiences. To this day, Rita Hester’s murder hasn’t been solved. Read more in NBC News.
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Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people -- sometimes in the most brutal ways possible -- it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.
Gwendolyn Ann Smith, founder of Transgender Day of Remembrance, via GLAAD.
In NCTE’s U.S. Transgender Survey, which included more than 28,000 respondents, nearly half (47%) of all Black respondents and 30% of all Latino respondents reported being denied equal treatment, verbally harassed, and/or physically attacked in the previous year because of being transgender. Nearly one in ten (9%) were physically attacked in the past year because of being transgender. Transgender women of color were more likely to be physically attacked in the previous year because of being transgender, compared to non-binary people of color and transgender men of color (Trans Equality).
And these attacks are often perpetrated or tolerated by law enforcement, emphasizing the need to reimagine our notion of safety in the U.S. Nearly 57% of all respondents said they were afraid to go to the police when they needed help. And 58% of transgender people who interacted with law enforcement reported experiences of harassment, abuse, or other mistreatment. More than 60% reported being physically assaulted, and 64% reporting being sexually assaulted. We discussed police violence against the Trans community in a previous newsletter >
Because of the deep distrust in law enforcement, paired with frequent misreporting and unreporting by local law enforcement, it’s incredibly difficult to discern how many transgender or gender non-conforming people are murdered in the U.S. The racial and gender bias in missing persons cases also exists in the LGBTQ community. According to Kylar Broadus, executive director of the Trans People of Color Coalition, a non-profit social justice organization, “A white trans* person is far more likely to get press than a trans* person of color” (The Missing). He explains that transgender people of color experience the most pervasive forms of discrimination because they are both people of color and identify as transgender.
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Transgender people – and particularly Black and Latina transgender women – are marginalized, stigmatized and criminalized in our country. They face violence every day, and they fear turning to the police for help.
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director for the National Center for Transgender Equality
Nevertheless, reported cases are higher than ever before. The HRC has a list of 37 individuals in the U.S., and Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide has names of 350 individuals from all around the world (The Trans Murder Monitoring Report). This is a national and global issue; the stigma and bias against transgender people cause violence worldwide. It is still illegal to be transgender in 14 countries (them).
Honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance, of course, isn’t the only way to support the transgender community. We must do more to dismantle our own biases and advocate for this community’s safety and security. In the U.S., a significant focus will be on the political landscape; Trump’s administration persistently attacked the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and although many were challenged in court, those efforts made a lasting adverse impact, both politically and socially (The Guardian). We need to keep issues related to LGBTQ+ people – housing, employment, education, healthcare – centered when we show up in future elections and stand adamant that the Biden administration holds up to its promises.
It’s also one of many reasons to acknowledge, honor, and uplift the contributions of the transgender community in our everyday lives that we – particularly those of us that benefit from the gender binary – take for granted. Recognize how the transgender community shapes our history, politics and culture. Listen to transgender advocates, particularly the youth, on how to support the future they envision. And, as we discussed in yesterday’s newsletter, diversify the books you read and the media you consume. Remember to center the transgender community every day, not just today.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of transgender people.
Transgender people, particularly those of color, disproportionately experience violence – including police brutality.
Beyond honoring today, it's critical to center the needs of the transgender and gender non conforming community in all of your efforts.
RELATED ISSUES
6/13/2020 | Center Black trans lives.
9/25/2020 | Decriminalize sex work.
8/26/2020 | Be an active bystander.
9/17/2020 | Abolish ICE.
PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT
Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.
Subscribe on Patreon | Give one-time on PayPal | Venmo @nicoleacardoza
Advocate for missing Black women.
The following is an excerpt from Janelle Harris Dixon's article "When a Black Woman Disappears, Who Is Trying to Find Her?" published on ZORA, a Medium publication centering stories of women of color. Visit ZORA to read the full article >
Research indicates that cases involving African Americans remain open and unresolved four times longer than cases involving White and Hispanic people. So missing Black women, like Unique, are twice victimized: once by the crime that ripped them from their lives in the first place, and again by ineffective law enforcement processes and a media largely indifferent about their disappearances. It’s what journalist Gwen Ifill identified as the “missing White woman syndrome,” an indictment of the press’ coverage of stories that only check the standard boxes for public interest and sympathy (see: Natalee Holloway and Chandra Levy).
Happy Wednesday and welcome back. Our next series of storytelling will focus on people of color that go missing. Hundreds of thousands of people of color are reported missing each year, and COVID-19 can make those most vulnerable even more so. Today, Janelle shares her powerful essay on the estimated 64,000 Black women gone missing.
This is the Anti-Racism Daily, a daily newsletter with tangible ways to dismantle racism and white supremacy. Support our work by making a one-time contribution on our website or PayPal, or giving monthly on Patreon. You can also Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). To subscribe, go to antiracismdaily.com.
Nicole
TAKE ACTION
Find the information for the missing persons department in your city. Visit it regularly so you can be more helpful in finding them.
Support the work of the Black & Missing Foundation, which aims to bring awareness to missing people of color
Share stories of missing persons that are local to you to raise awareness
GET EDUCATED
By Janelle Harris Dixon (she/her)
The following is an excerpt from Janelle Harris Dixon's article "When a Black Woman Disappears, Who Is Trying to Find Her?" published on ZORA, a Medium publication centering stories of women of color. Visit ZORA to read the full article >
Research indicates that cases involving African Americans remain open and unresolved four times longer than cases involving White and Hispanic people. So missing Black women, like Unique, are twice victimized: once by the crime that ripped them from their lives in the first place, and again by ineffective law enforcement processes and a media largely indifferent about their disappearances. It’s what journalist Gwen Ifill identified as the “missing White woman syndrome,” an indictment of the press’ coverage of stories that only check the standard boxes for public interest and sympathy (see: Natalee Holloway and Chandra Levy).
That puts a premium on social media as the go-to resource to put the Black community on alert about a case, says Natalie Wilson, co-founder and chief operating officer of the Black and Missing Foundation, a national nonprofit that advocates for missing persons and supports their families.
“Many times when our women go missing, they’re believed to be involved in some type of criminal activity and that’s not true,” she explains, referring to the case of Anthony Sowell who, in 2011, was convicted of murdering 11 women — all of them Black — and hiding their bodies in and around his Cleveland, Ohio, home. “I remember family members contacting us saying, ‘Hey, we reached out to law enforcement and they didn’t take us seriously. They said that our loved one is on drugs and the drugs will wear off, or they’re involved in some type of promiscuous behavior.’ Basically, blowing them off,” Wilson said. “So we have to be vigilant about these cases. We have to take them seriously.”
Last year, more than 205,000 Black Americans were reported missing, according to the National Crime Information Center, and Black women, who make up less than 7% of the U.S. population, comprised nearly 10% of that number. A 2019 report compiled by the Congressional Research Service reveals that African Americans are overrepresented in the number of missing persons cases compared to the population as a whole. The FBI estimates that some 64,000 Black women and girls are currently missing. The urgency to understand what’s happening to so many sisters is obvious when it’s laid out in numbers.
Toni Jacobs sensed something was wrong on September 26, 2016, when her then 21-year-old daughter, Keeshae, hadn’t called or texted by her lunch break. They were close — Keeshae even has a tattoo of her mama’s name on her shoulder — and daily communication has been part of their routine. By the time Jacobs got home from work, nearly 16 hours since she’d last spoken to her child, she was in a full-blown worry. By 1 a.m., she was knocking on the doors of friends’ homes where she thought Keeshae could possibly be. But when Jacobs went to police in Richmond, Virginia, to complete the fearful task of filing a missing person report, she says officers didn’t match her concern.
“The first thing they said was, ‘How do you know she’s missing? She just could just not want to be found.’ I literally had to show the police officer my phone like, this girl texts me every day, all day, and I haven’t heard from her,” Jacobs said. “If that was the case, she could’ve said, ‘Hey Mom, look I’m going to so and so. I’m chilling. I’ll contact you.’ But that’s not what happened. Her last message said, ‘Mom, I’ll see you in the morning.’ And morning came and I ain’t seen my daughter.’” Even following her explanation, Jacobs says Richmond police didn’t start investigating until a week later.
Then in January 2017, just three and a half months after Keeshae vanished, Jacobs’ 25-year-old son, Deavon, was shot to death. Headlines read “Missing woman’s brother murdered at Richmond motel.” Finally, the public was paying attention to Keeshae’s case. It took the killing of her only sibling and her mother’s only son to elevate media interest and investigative action.
“Trust and believe, if she was a White girl, they would’ve been on it within the first 24 hours. When it’s women with children and husbands, they’ll be on the news. I literally had to fight to get Keeshae on the news,” said Jacobs. “People have this misconception when somebody goes missing that they ran away, they had problems at home, they probably was abused. My daughter was not abused. She didn’t run away. She held my hand and hugged me before she walked out my door.”
It just takes one regular, everyday Samaritan to come forward with the information or tip that can help find a missing person.
In December 2018, as one of his last presidential moves of the year, Trump signed the Ashanti Alert Act into federal law. The new nationwide system dispatches notifications about missing people between the ages of 18 and 64 — too old for an Amber Alert, designed to make the public aware of child abductions, and too young for a Silver Alert, which similarly dispenses information about missing seniors. It is the legislative namesake of Ashanti Billie, a young, Black woman and aspiring chef who moved from Maryland to Virginia Beach to study culinary arts. On September 3, 2017, Ashanti was kidnapped on her way to work. Because she was 19, no be-on-the-lookout alerts went out about her abduction. Then 11 days later, her body was discovered near a church in Charlotte. Her parents, Meltony and Brandy Billie, and lawmakers pushed the act to help expedite searches for missing and endangered adults so Ashanti’s senseless death could save another life.
For years, Harris and Jacobs have been a mutual support for each other, part of a sorority of nightmarish circumstances they never wanted to be initiated into, each carrying a daily anguish that is raw and unrelenting, each vigilant in her belief that her child is alive until there is a body to prove her wrong. Unique and Keeshae have lives waiting for them to rejoin. In December, Unique’s oldest son will be 16 years old; her youngest is now 14. She has a nephew she hasn’t met yet, born a few years after she disappeared, and she had just been accepted to an academic program. Keeshae is a hard worker and would be excelling at whatever job she’s doing. Her mother just bought a home and jokes that Keeshae would be there every weekend, centering herself in the tight-knit family she loves and loves her back.
Even when the media is indifferent and law enforcement is underperforming or uncommunicative or both, it just takes one regular, everyday Samaritan to come forward with the information or tip that can help find a missing person or provide closure for their loved ones, says Wilson.
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We ask families to just hold onto hope. Whether it’s the first day or an anniversary, if you have new information about an individual, share it. They are mothers and fathers, they are sisters and brothers and grandparents and cousins and nieces and aunts and uncles. They’re not faceless. They’re important to their community.”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Cases involving African Americans remain open and unresolved four times longer than cases involving White and Hispanic people.
The FBI estimates that some 64,000 Black women and girls are currently missing.
Missing Black women are twice victimized: once by the crime that ripped them from their lives in the first place, and again by ineffective law enforcement processes and an indifferent media.
RELATED ISSUES
9/11/2020 | Protect Black women.
6/13/2020 | Center Black trans lives.
8/26/2020 | Be an active bystander.
PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT
Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.
Subscribe on Patreon | Give one-time on PayPal | Venmo @nicoleacardoza